Sharon Shoesmith begins appeal over Baby P sacking

Dismissal: Sharon Shoesmith was sacked from her job following the Baby P tragedy

Sharon Shoesmith has launched a Court of Appeal battle over her sacking after the Baby P tragedy.

Her dismissal as director of children's services at Haringey Council in north London was neither lawful nor fair, her counsel today told three appeal judges.

Ms Shoesmith was sacked in December 2008 after a damning Ofsted report into failings in her department exposed by Baby P's death.

Ms Shoesmith is seeking to overturn a High Court ruling that declared lawful decisions made by regulator Ofsted, former children's secretary Ed Balls and Haringey Council which led to the loss of her £130,000-a-year job.

James Maurici, appearing for Ms Shoesmith, said there had been "buck passing" between the three which had led to her being denied natural justice and a fair hearing.

Mr Maurici described Ms Shoesmith as a highly-thought-of public servant with a very successful career spanning 35 years who now faced ruin.

He said she had held a number of senior education posts with local authorities and risen through the ranks to her post with Haringey in 2005.A year later she was singled out in an Ofsted report for providing "strong and dynamic leadership".

Mr Maurici said: "On December 1 2008, while trapped in her flat by the media, she had the extreme misfortune to see on television the secretary of state Mr Ed Balls at a live press conference announce that he was directing that Haringey remove her from her post 'with immediate effect'."

Mr Balls told the press that she was "not fit for office".

Mr Maurici said Mr Balls had acted following an Ofsted report which made "damning findings" on children's services in Haringey - a report Ms Shoesmith had not seen, or been given a chance to respond to, before Mr Balls ordered her removal.

Mr Maurici said High Court judge Mr Justice Foskett, who had found her sacking lawful, had commented: "I do not think that any fair-minded person could think that this was a satisfactory state of affairs."